Scrambled eggs. Or spaghetti.
Lemme see, what was today? And what was it not? It was Father’s Day. I feel pretty much the same about Father’s Day as I do about that other Hallmark holiday. Except that the other Hallmark holiday isn’t really a Hallmark holiday (go ahead, Goooooooogle it), although I think Hallmark (et al) has probably taken full advantage about marketing it full-tilt boogie.
So, what did we do to celebrate Father’s Day? Or observe it or whatever it is we do on Father’s Day? Well, Mouse wanted to arrange a brunch for the GG at Cafe Zola but that didn’t work out because they were booked (duh), so we went with Plan B. Which was? I dragged the GG out of bed at 0-skunk-30 and we took one of our favorite urban hikes along the parklands by the river over to the Northside Grille. 5.5 miles by my iPhone pedometer app. We got there just about 8 AM and had a wonderful breakfast there with our own very tired Mouse. My fave part of the morning was when the dads at the next table read picture books to their little kids. I don’t know where the moms were. I was thinking about a long-ago Mother’s Day when Grandmother Trucker and I were sent out to breakfast at Ron’s Restaurant at Houghton Lake alone while the boys took care of the kids. This seemed a bit opposite in a way but today’s dads were having a great time and the kids were happy and weeeee were trying to listen in! (-;
Our Mouse had driven to the grille, so she taxied us over to the Landfill and chopped off a bunch of my hair, which means that I no longer have to sign my emails with “Your friend, Shaggy the Dog”. A summer head o’ hair! Yaaay!!! And then. The GG took a long winter’s nap and Mouse and Froggy settled in for a short little snooze on the Green Couch. And then, when Mouse left, Froggy musta hitched a ride with her ’cause I cain’t find him nowhere ’round here! I guess it’s more fun to live downtown with a bunch of good-looking 20-something wimmin than it is to live here with a baggy shaggy old bag but I do hope he doesn’t create great devastation down there at Mouse’s House! Hear that, old Frog? Don’t wear out your welcome. Er, *if* that’s where he is. I don’t *think* he mailed himself to Callyforny again.
What else? Well, it occurred to me that it is also Radical Betty’s birthday today. I’m sure she is celebrating it somewhere out there. Probably with Duke and Grandroobly and The Engineer and a whole host of others who went before her. Instead of getting all maudlin (is that the right word?) about that, I elected to post a bunch of photos of our 2006 kayak trip to the Pictured Rocks on Flickr. I know that “Batty” doesn’t want me to be all sad and so I’m not gonna be. We live and we die. She lived her life to the absolute fullest and I’m gonna try to do that too, although I know that I don’t have it in me to do it with as much style and grace and savoir faire as Radical Betty did.
Oh, and what else? I *thought* today was the summer solstice but my calendar disagrees with me. At any rate, the next few weeks are going to be totally chaotic and I am going to have to force myself to live in the moment a lot of the time to just get through. Except for work… I worked a few hours here at home both yesterday and today in order to get some things prepared for the coming chaos. I cannot afford to go in tomorrow and do the all-too-typical slow start into Monday. Dum de dum de dum, what was I doing last week? Not this week. I have a plan for tomorrow morning.
The GG is not *my* father but he’s getting steak for Father’s Day because that’s what my dad would have wanted. And corn on the cob. My dad wasn’t all that crazy about much of “that green stuff” but we’re having some of that too. What’re y’all doing today? Was it a good weekend? Did you spend it with your father, either in real life or remembrance…
G’night,
Shaggy the Dog Kayak Woman
June 20th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I picked up R this morning, and we strapped the second kayak atop the car. . . but we did have to drive north for coffee and Holly B’s orange rolls before heading south to our launch site. The little bit of Radical Betty cremains that came west with me came along on our outing. Once adequately caffeinated we managed to get our boats in the water, R without removing his shoes, which was a tricky bit. It was pretty breezy as we headed out, and R quipped that perhaps small boats are not the best way for our family to transport cremains. . . but there we were anyway. By the time we rounded the Salmon point headland we were in three foot swell with wind chop. Did I mention the tide and the wind were against us? So we changed route, and headed straight into a bouncy, tricky rip line, confused with swell and wind chop. I offered that maybe we would just take Betty for a ride, safely stowed under my spray skirt, which was functioning nicely to drain the water coming over my cockpit. We turned into a sheltered bit of water, and found the perfect place to give Betty over to the Pacific ocean, where salmon, seals, otters and sea lions swim, and eagles and great blue herons fly over. We wished Radical Betty a Happy 88th birthday wherever she is. Both R and I thought of “Paddle to the Sea”, and imagined that at some place and time, the waters from Lake Superior, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean co-mingle. We surfed with tide and wind behind us back to the launch site, and felt grateful to have spent the morning with the little bit of Betty, celebrating her birthday.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I love Paddle to the Sea! and there seems to be a theme about ashes and open water and small boats here….
I was up north (not the cabin though) but did call Harry this morning.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Our plans sort of worked out–lunch with my dad then we were supposed to putt putt golf with my husband but THAT didn’t happen because of the incessant rain. We came home and played board games. It was fun!! Now I hope that both girls drive safely back to Seattle and Bellingham. Eek.
June 20th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
my dad died of a brain tumor six years ago. i thought about him a lot today. all the good parts of me, and all the bad parts of me, come from him.
June 20th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
We spent yesterday with my dad (my brother had to work today and we all wanted to be together so yesterday was “Father’s Day”). It was a little bittersweet, though. My dad is really failing, and it breaks my heart.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:40 am
I’ve been going through pictures for various sewing prodjects (intensely misssspelllled), so have been in a very nostalgic mood all weekend. I didn’t realize that Betty’s birthday was yesterday, so thanks for posting that. I’m raising a toast with my coffee to her.
Regarding Father’s Day, I called Harry to wish him well on his day. The line was busy when I first called, and I found out that it was not one of my sister’s talking to him, but the Commander and Bubs were having a chat. I’d like to know why Harry’s gift from me hasn’t arrived yet, but that’s a matter for the USPS to figure out. Dave called and asked if Mark was there. “No, he’s in California.” I’m assuming that Dave got a hold of him after we talked. Dan had also asked about doing something for Fathers’ Day, but he asked on Friday, after Mark had already flown the coop. So we will do something next weekend for Mark with Dan.
June 21st, 2010 at 9:37 am
As much as I pretend to be cranky about Mother’s/Father’s Day(s), I do think they are important reminders to think about our parents and, if we can, spend time with them, especially when they are getting older and/or are ill.
It’s kind of cracking me up that the Fin family (especially the Nassoiy branch) seems to have so many watery adventures in the process of trying to scatter people’s ashes (-:
And speaking of paddle-to-the-sea, there is a retired couple who are walking around Lake Superior. You can follow their adventures here: http://www.fullcirclesuperior.org/ and they are also on facebook. They have a “paddle” who occasionally makes an appearance. I’m not sure whether they plan to walk our beach or not but, if they do, there is an outside chance, I might actually BE there at the time!
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:48 am
“Paddle to the Sea” was always a favorite of mine, and we added “Minn of the Mississippi” and “Ivory Gull” (? not sure that’s the exact title) to our collection when D&D came along. It would be awesome to meet the full circle Superior couple and walk the beach with them.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:57 am
Paulette – you need to be on the lookout because the Lake Superior hikers are almost to Brimley/SSM.